"[Gordon is] very easy to know and very easy to like," said Weight, who can count Peter Laviolette, another ex-Providence coach, among his former bosses. "That said, he's a guy that has a tremendous amount of confidence in what he believes in. He believes in accountability, which I think is what makes a team run. He's put a lot of responsibility on the veterans on this team to buy into that and buy into his system. He's been honest. He's been forthright. He's been very good to us."************************************************** Patriot LedgerBruins ruin Scott Gordon’s homecoming here.by Bob Stern

“He’s very passionate and he’s very detail oriented, but that’s what you need now,” said Guerin. “You need that in the game these days. The better coaches are the better-prepared coaches, and he’s definitely prepared for every practice, every game. He demands a lot out of us, and that’s what you want. You want a guy to push you.”***********************************************************Greg Logan in Newsday's Islander blog 12/28 here.

I wouldn't be surprised if a part of Guerin would trade places with Bailey right now because the kid's odometer is only 21 games down the road, while the primary question facing Guerin and Weight coming into this season was how much they have left in their tanks. That question was posed to coach Scott Gordon today, and he chose not to hazard a guess.

"You have to ask them," Gordon said. "They're playing here now. I'm not going to predict the future."

Asked if he expects to land another contract this summer, Guerin said, "Oh, absolutely. I'm going to play as long as I can. When you talk to guys who have retired, that's the first thing they say is, 'Play as long as you can.' Once it's gone, it's gone."

As for whether it will be with the Islanders, he added, "They're going to play who they want to play and keep who they want to keep. I can only control how I play and how I produce. If I keep doing that, somebody out there is going to want to give you a job. Hopefully, that's the Islanders, but we'll see down the road."

It's the same with the Islanders. For all the emphasis on youth, it's the vets who are producing. The kids have been given major roles and are working hard at it, but these things take time. None of them really has earned his stripes just yet. So, there may yet be a meaningful role for Guerin and Weight in the Islanders' future.

"I would think so," Guerin said. "I mean, I think our performance kind of speaks for itself in that we have played well. We have lived up to expectations and maybe surpassed them at times."

Here's the best part, the message Guerin and Weight have for the Isles' kids. "We've told the younger guys, 'Don't wait for us to stop for you to get going. If you can take our job, take it. Because I'm not going to give it to you,'" Guerin said with a laugh. "You know what I mean? That was the challenge Glen Sather said he always said to guys at training camp. 'If you can take Gretzky's job, go ahead. Take it. Prove that you're better than him. If you can take Messier's job, go ahead. That's what it's all about.' That's what players have to do. You have to rise up and prove it."**********************************************************Weight, Guerin are used to the trade rumors here.Newsday 1/6/09**********************************************************ISLANDERS INSIDER Islanders are playing for the future here.Greg Logan, January 10, 2009

"The biggest thing is, with everything we've done, I don't think we ever are going to be able to get a fair assessment of what's going to work for us and what's not going to work for us because of the constant change of personnel," said first-year coach Scott Gordon, whose aggressive forechecking system has been a source of controversy inside the locker room and out.

Following the loss Thursday in Calgary that ended the trip, Gordon suggested he plans to expand roles for his young players even more at some point in the second half of the season. That's an indication an effort will be made to trade some of the Islanders' veteran malcontents by the March 4 trade deadline, and it also might reflect an understanding his best hope of getting players to commit to his system lies with young kids hungry for the chance to prove themselves.

Still, it's a risky process. What if the Isles ultimately miss out on Tavares or Hedman in the lottery? Will they have problems convincing other veteran free agents to join the Islanders next summer if some of their current vets leave the organization disillusioned with the lack of progress and the chance for future success?

These are tough times, and if Gordon and Snow aren't careful, it can get much worse.**********************************************************Isles woeful season is a burden on Captain Guerin hereSun 11 Jan 2009Newsday BY JOHN JEANSONNEThere is a public esteem associated with being Captain, of course; a badge of respect and credit. But when a Captain's ship is listing ...

At 38, Guerin is the senior member of a team increasingly favoring youth. He is the leading goal-scorer, with 13, a steady presence as one of only three Islanders to play in all 42 games this season.

But the team is 12-26-4, dead last in the National Hockey League, a Titanic analogy wounded by what seems only the tip of a disastrous iceberg. In his 17th NHL season, with his seventh team, Guerin is not exactly experiencing the reverence of longevity and accomplishment.

"It's a big honor to be captain," he said. "A big honor. I feel a responsibility for the way this has gone this year. I do. It eats at you."

A captain, Islanders coach Scott Gordon said, "should be an extension of the coach. His thought process should be about how things affect the team, making the team work together and setting the environment where everybody wants to be a part and pull the same way.

"It's about leading, really. Making sure guys are up and ready and excited to play. Bringing a level of professionalism and leading by example."

Whatever the blames and causes, though, the kind of fearful trip wracking the Islanders, exacerbated by widespread injury -- while "it's not fun no matter your position on the team," Gordon noted -- becomes an added burden for the guy wearing the 'C' on his sweater.

"I try not to bring my work home with me," Guerin said. "My family does a good job keeping me grounded. But hockey's a big part of my life.

"Everybody says it's just a game. It's just a game for everybody else [outside the team], but it's my whole life.

"It's fun. A fantastic life. I have fun every day playing hockey. I never wanted to do anything else. But it's more than a game. I see people [on nights without a game] on the street at six at night and they're like, 'Aren't you playing tonight?' Like we just show up a half-hour before a game, like it's just a beer league. There's so much more that goes into it."

For the captain, there not only is the expectation to perform on the ice, but also to be a locker room leader, a primary representative of the team to the public, a player spokesman in dealing with management, an organizer of team social functions.

"The biggest thing," Gordon said, "is that athletes in general always are concerned about their own production. They have to be. They need some selfishness. But the captain ... it's important he pulls it all together" by worrying about the bigger picture of the team.***********************************************************NY Post Dan Martin 1/13/09GORDON EMBRACING YOUTH here.

Injured veteran Doug Weight has already expressed displeasure about the possibility of having a reduced role and yesterday Bill Guerin , the captain, said he wasn't pleased with how things were going but could see why Gordon and Co. would come to that decision.

"It's frustrating, but you deal with it," Guerin said. "He's got to do what he feels he has to do or what he wants to do. There's nothing I can do about it."

But he didn't criticize the move.

"I understand it well," Guerin said. "But it's their decision. It's not my choice."**************************************************************Islanders are on a 'team-building' run here.BY JOHN JEANSONNE, February 4, 2009

His public declaration, in the midst of their 2-18-2 drought, that he would look to what he called "the big picture, the development of our young players," might have sounded as if he were excluding steady veterans Bill Guerin and Doug Weight, both of whom continue to provide much of the team's meager offensive power.

"It's not like we abandoned our older players, but we're giving the opportunity to the younger players. Along the way, I think that made us a better team. Their enthusiasm, coming to the rink every day, there was more bounce in their step. And I liked the way the older guys have responded. They've played with more urgency and commitment in small areas. I've got to give them credit for that. It was not an easy pill to swallow."

Gordon's decision to group his youngest players -- Josh Bailey, Kyle Okposo and Blake Comeau -- on one line, and his most experienced veterans -- Guerin, Weight and Mike Comrie -- together on another, might have resulted in a complete flat tire. Instead, "never at any time" did Gordon see a desertion of duty by the veterans, as Guerin continues to interact with all his teammates in the true manner of a captain.

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